Athlete of the week

Florin Orban, 16.05.2023, 11:00

The first major rowing competition of 2023 was held last week in Hungarys Szeged.

The 2023 ICF Canoe and Kayak Sprint & Paracanoe World Cup brought together Europes top-notch rowers, with world and European champions among them. The Romanian delegation was made of nine rowers, of which seven competed in the mens and two proved their mettle in the womens version of the competition. The record all told earned the Romanian delegation the 3rd position according to the nations competition.

Cătălin Chirilă won gold in mens C1 event, in the 500m and 1,000m races. Ilie Sprincean and Oleg Nuţă won mens C2 1,000m race. Reason enough for Radio Romania International to designate Catalin Chirila the Athlete of the week.

In Szeged, Cătălin Chirilă won his first race on Friday, in the 500m mens C1 race, an event where he is a world vice-champion and a bronze medallist at the European championships. Chirila clocked one minute and 50 seconds and 72 hundredths of a second. Chirila was followed was Moldavian Sergey Tarnovsky, who arrived one second and 72 hundredths of a second later, and the French Loic Leonard, who arrived 3 seconds and 57 hundredths later than Chirila. On Saturday, in the mens C1 1000m race defending world champion Catalin Chirila started off as favorite. Chirila clocked 3 minutes, 55 de seconds and 10 hundredths of a second, outperforming many-time world champion, German Conrad Scheibner, who finished the race nearly two seconds later than Chirila. Catalin Chirila also outclassed Polands Wiktor Glazunow, who finished the race almost 4 seconds later than Chirila.

Cătălin Chirilă was born in Tulcea, on May 11, 1998. He is signed up by Steaua Bucharest. Army Club. Chirilas first notable world-level performances occurred in mens C2 events, jointly with Victor Mihalachi. In 2019, at the European championships hosted by Minsk in Belarus, Chirila and Mihalachi won the gold medals in the 1000m race. In 2021, at the European championships in Polands Poznan, Chirila and Mihalachi won bronze, also in the 1000m race. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Chirilă and Mihalachi came in 5th. Since 2022, Chirila has been competing in mens singles events. At the World Championships in Halifax, Canada, Chirila won the 1000m Olympic race and came in 2nd in the 500m race. At the European Championships in Munich, Catalin Chirila again won the 1000m race, coming in 3rd in the 500m race.